13-year-old girl riding bike killed by truck

Trucks and bicycles seem to be in so many accidents in Japan.

That's tough for everyone. Its especially sad when its a kid who has yet to live their life. I do hope it wasn't distraction by mobile phone that caused her to fall off her bike.

Similar scenario nearly happened to me recently, a group of elementary school soccer boys on bikes, riding/goofing not paying attention and one suddenly swerved right in front of me and half fell off his bike, luckily I had noticed them and recognized the potential danger and slowed down. Had I been going the speed limit, I would have hit him and you would have been reading it here.

Narrow, streets lots of pedestrians and cyclists sharing the same crammed spaces. Tragedy lurks.

Miyu Toyoyama, was riding home after volleyball practice when she was hit from behind by the truck. She was taken to hospital where she died about two hours later, police said. The 44-year-old truck driver was quoted by police as saying that Toyoyama fell off her bike onto the road in front of him and that he couldn’t stop in time.

Of course, you just hit her you idiot, look where you are going, truck drivers think they own the road.

Bicyclists also think they own the road.

Really sad! The narrow roads in Japan just don't mix well with bicycles and trucks on the same lane! Accidents like this are pre-programmed!

gogogo: you rush to blame the truck driver, but this sounds like the fault of the young girl, and sadly she died for it. The driver could of course be lying, but we don't know. What I DO know is that I see both trucks driving crazily and people riding their bikes oblivious to their surroundings, and just last night in fact I had to come to a screeching halt and barely missed hitting two boys about 11 years old because they were racing each other and swerved around a street corner into the middle of the road in front of me as I passed through a narrow T-corner. Neither of the boys stopped at the white line as they were supposed to, nor did they check the mirror on the street, nor look to their right before turning. Had I been a car, they would likely be dead. Fortunately I was able to catch site of them JUST as they were coming onto the road. If it was as the driver said, there is nothing he could have done, and now all must suffer and the life of a little girl is lost. My guess is not that she had a cell phone, as some are wondering, in use, but given that she was coming home from volleyball likely had a heavy school/sports bag throwing her off balance and she fell.

RIP young teen! It may be a story ripe for some all around blaming. Maybe the truck driver was negligent or the road too narrow, the bike too unstable or little Miyu too careless. But maybe that was just really bad luck and she really did tumble just as the truck was passing by her. May the family find peace somehow!

The 44-year-old truck driver was quoted by police as saying that Toyoyama fell off her bike onto the road in front of him and that he couldn’t stop in time.

Nice! I suppose the thought of slowing down and letting her travel along the road never occurred to you. You just had to zoom past her and in doing so you killed her. Well done fool!

Tragic. Interesting that so many people can pass judgement based on the bare "facts" provided so far, almost as if they were there to witness what happened.

Use the brakes to slow down to whatever speed is necessary not to pass dangerously - that means a distance far enough not to crush her if she falls over. The side of the road is filled with wheel sucking drain covers, uneven road surface, all sorts of debris which can make a bicycle fall over as the rider tries to get out of the way of a big truck in a hurry. Give her a chance to stop, pull over, and get her balance, or wait as she wobbles forward - we're talking about human life here.

@smithinjapan ... My guess is not that she had a cell phone, as some are wondering, in use, but given that she was coming home from volleyball likely had a heavy school/sports bag throwing her off balance and she fell.

That is a very prejudicial rationalization - cold and heartless. And you seem to infer by your interjected personal experience of the little boys who rode their bicycles recklessly near you that this little girl must have been irresponsible just like those little boys - can't you see those events are unrelated and what nonsense petty logic that is?

It's a pretty slippery slope when you start a priori justifying the road death of a little girl. - some years from now you might be reflecting on your words as you sit in the defendants chair accused of collaboration in road crimes against humanity.

That's why so many people ride their bikes on the pavement because roads just aren't safe.

CraigHicks: "That is a very prejudicial rationalization - cold and heartless."

'Prejudicial rationalization'?? Where do you come up with this, bud? Look around you next time you're outside when school/club time is over and tell me that you do NOT often see kids with oversized sports bags/equipment hanging off backs (not regular backpacks where weight is evenly distributed if you have straps on both shoulders) in in front baskets. It's not 'prejudicial' by any means, it's common fact and something you see all the time. And there's nothing cold and heartless about it -- particularly given the fact that I was saying gogogo or others should not jump to conclusions either way, BUT if the girl did indeed fall from her bicycle it was less likely to be a cell phone (as one person said they hoped it was not) and more likely, if anything, what I said.

"And you seem to infer by your interjected personal experience of the little boys who rode their bicycles recklessly near you that this little girl must have been irresponsible just like those little boys - can't you see those events are unrelated and what nonsense petty logic that is?"

I can see what petty logic and emotion you are dropping without actually reading the comment. Where did I say the girl was reckless -- that was YOUR inference! -- I said that there are crazy truck drivers out there, and crazy people on bicycles, and gave a solid example of the kind of thing, again, that you see very often after saying that all we have to go on is the driver's statement. Others have pointed out that cyclists often ride around dangerously, so where's there 'prejudicial rationalization' remark for them? (and again, how on earth is that a rationalization?). Here are some examples for you, Craig:

"Similar scenario nearly happened to me recently, a group of elementary school soccer boys on bikes, riding/goofing not paying attention and one suddenly swerved right in front of me and half fell off his bike, luckily I had noticed them and recognized the potential danger and slowed down. Had I been going the speed limit, I would have hit him and you would have been reading it here."

"Bicyclists also think they own the road."

And one against the truck driver:

"Of course, you just hit her you idiot, look where you are going, truck drivers think they own the road."

Craig: "It's a pretty slippery slope when you start a priori justifying the road death of a little girl."

Again, you really need to look up the definition of 'rationalization' and 'justifying', as I'm doing neither. There is no 'justifying' the loss of this little girl's life, but heaven forbid someone try to find out how it happened in an attempt to counter those who would automatically blame either party. And I notice you have expressed zero sympathy for the little girl at all yourself, or the family, or the driver who will also suffer for the rest of his life knowing he killed someone with her whole life ahead of her. THAT is cold and heartless.

I've been riding and coaching bike teams for a quite a while now but I've never really seen anyone just suddently fall off of a bike. I've seen people wobbling around and then falling off. If that were the case, the truck driver should have slowed down and proceeded with caution. Maybe even use his horn...that's what it's for.

Maybe a camera caught what happened and we'll be able to find out the truth. RIP.

It is usually possible to prove she was really of the bike or not when hit...

Was there a road defect in the area where the accident occurred ?

As a Regular Cyclist, over many years here, the constant digging up & resurfacing of road areas has in recent years become of concern due to to holes not being filled-in correctly - I'm nowadays having to regularly (quarterly) re-true my Wheels - and that's on a MTB , and over road use only.... I guess certain routes are better than others, and I have simply drawn the short straw.

Sadly for the Family, local "rules" (from the Insurance perspective) seem to state no matter what, that 20% of the fault of the Accident was hers!!!... (I've been there before ! And honestly this is crazy), so I wouldn't be surprised if the truck company claims against her family for damage to their truck ! (or driver).

@AKBfan ... That's why so many people ride their bikes on the pavement because roads just aren't safe.

It used to be legal to ride either on the pavement or in the road, but the law has changed and now it is illegal to ride a bicycle on pavements below a certain width. Although it is common to see police still doing it. And many drivers believe that bicycles do not ever belong in the road, and assume it is law.

@mmwkdw ... Was there a road defect in the area where the accident occurred ? ... holes not being filled-in correctly

In addition to the holes, the road surface itself is often uneven - there is often a depression where the vehicle tires press down on the road over time, with a corresponding ridge to the left of that, and then another dip into the gutter which is also filled with debris and drain covers. The result is that bicyclists frightened and worried about holding up traffic will try to move rapidly to the side of the road onto the ridge or into the gutter where they are in grave danger of falling over - which combined with a rushed careless driver could result in the type of accident that occurred here.

Very sad, and this kind of accident can easily be avoided with more cautious driving.

As of right now we only have the statement of the truck driver to go by as to what happened. Any other scenario is just a wild guess. Things like "phones" (both the girl's and the truck driver's) are easily proven or disproven as a factor by simply checking the phone records to see if the phone(s) were in use at the time. That's the police's job to prove, not our's to speculate.

Very painful to hear, I feel for the parents as well as the driver depending on how this situation truly played out. The parents lost their child that they tried to raise into adulthood after 13 years... And the driver has to deal with killing someone on the job.

Whilst tragic for both parties, the many scenarios presented here are very real possibilities. I drive a car everyday and I have experienced numerous times young children, teenagers, adults riding bicycles listening to music, not wearing any protective helmets and completely oblivious to their surroundings. I have seen parents carrying children on the back and front of their bicycles, talking on the phone or reading some SMS and again no one wearing any protective helmets. The police are very much to blame for these behaviors. Should a driver be using a phone while a policeman is around, in most cases the no mercy rule, correctly is applied. Should a motorcyclist ride a motorbike without wearing a helmet, he or she won't go far. Yet, these rules don't apply to bicyclists. I have had the unfortunate experience of seeing it first hand. Ride a bicycle under the influence of alcohol and be assured the police will not do anything but do it with a machine with an engine then... Whatever, the facts maybe in this case the fundamental behavior of cyclists on the road is a direct result of lack of police action in implementing rules forcefully.

The protective measures required around robots' work envelopes in factories are much more restrictive than the rules governing interaction between motor vehicles and bicycle traffic. And there are much less fatalities around robots because of that.

Governments should just mandate physical separation of the traffic streams. Problem is, except for new developments, governments would be on the hook for that, and it seems like widening and separating traffic arteries in existing developments could get extremely expensive.

Paulmqs - are you serious? The reason their needs to be greater enforcement and even restrictions to auto traffic is that it is literally 3000X easier to kill someone with a car than with a bicycle. This girl certainly, wasnt a threat to anyone.y

I saw a junior high boy (11-14 years old) fall over on his bike last week, for no apparent reason. Slowed down too much then fell over. Carrying backpack on way home from school. And junior high population of Japan is how many millions? Never say never?

But if kid is wobbly, driver should slow, not pass, and stop if he has to stop in order not to pass.

To the ones blaming the truck driver: before you are allowed to blame them you have had to work as a truck driver for some time first! It's a tough job and one with an atmosphere that you're always in jail with one leg. On the street the one with the bigger vehicle usually is being blamed for any possible accident. And accidents like this can happen all to easily. But then, if not for the truck drivers, who else will be delivering your goods to your convenience store around the block, which, I have no doubt, you would be complaining about if they weren't available.